Blood Dawn
by Athunderatdawn
Summary: September 1984, Calumet Colorado. Russian invasion and an outbreak of a deadly virus infects the Western states. Story follows Walking dead story line, but none of the Walking Dead Characters will be included in this story. Don't need to watch the walking dead to understand what is happening. Please review!


**Blood dawn**

 _ **This is the End**_

 _ **My only friend-**_

 _ **The end of our Elaborate plans**_

 _ **The end of everything that stands**_

 _ **The end**_

 _ **I will never look into your eyes again**_

 _ **Can you picture what will be?**_

 _ **So limitless and free**_

 _ **Desperately in need of some strangers hand,**_

 _ **In a desperate land**_

 **~ Jim Morrison- "The End"**

" _This is the emergency broadcast system. We are under attack by convincible forces of the Russian army._

 _We believe help is on the way._

 _Take shelter. Stay off the streets. There is a deadly virus going around. Symptoms include high-fever and hallucinations. Take care of yourselves._

 _Help is on its way."_

 **Chapter 1: A Red Dawn**

 _Calumet General Hospital_

Jed Eckert's eyes open.

"Mattie?" He croaks, pausing. His voice sounds funny. "Mattie? Matt, are you in the John?"

He doesn't receive an answer.

He slowly turns his head to look at the side table. A vase sits full of dried, wilted flowers. He reaches and pinches the petals between his fingers and they crumble to pieces.

He inhales, listening. But all he heard was silence.

Not a sound.

Confused, he looks at the clock on the wall across the room. 2:17.

He watches it for a few seconds, realizing that none of the arms are moving.

Jed rapidly tries to sit up, pulling off the finger sensor and canula , grunting in pain as he rolls onto his side. He tries to hold on to things to keep him from falling, but fails and topples to the floor, ripping the IV out of his hand.

"Nurse? Nurse, help me!" He yells hoarsely.

No response.

Jed hobbles to the bathroom and peers into the mirror. He had grown a beard; he was thin and looks quite sickly. Dark, sunken eyes, unshaven, disheveled hair. His mouth was dry and his throat ached.

He turned on the faucet and drank the water greedily.

There was no action or movement. No life, only the electricity humming through the walls.

Jed fumbles into the hallway, becoming more desperate for human contact. He passes the nurse's desk and begins calling out "Hello? Dad! Mattie?"

He approaches a set of double doors. Before opening them, he looks through the small rectangular windows. He sees a half-eaten corpse of a woman, likely a nurse, eaten from the waist down almost to her bones.

Jed gasped and backs unsteadily backwards away from the door. The hallways littered with towels, medical supplies, and papers, but most disturbingly were the bullet holes and blood splatters on the walls.

Scared and confused, Jed busted through another set of doors, frantically trying to get the elevator to work. Giving up, he runs to the stairwell and slams the doors shut behind him, leaving himself in complete darkness.

He stumbles down the staircase, coughing and his stomach churning at the wretched smell that came from them. He finds the exit, pushing the door open the door exposing the blinding daylight onto the rotting corpses on the staircase.

The annoying sound of flies buzzing was overwhelming.

Still trying to adjust his eyes to the light, he views his surroundings and sees dozens of corpses lined up. Most has a gunshot wound to the head.

Jed turns and looks at the outside of the abandoned Calumet General Hospital. Most of the windows were broken, the lights that worked, flickered, and the rest, darkness. Empty.

Rick stumbled through the grass past the parking lot of the dead, towards another parking area.

Humvees were parked alongside military tents, ammo cans, and helicopters. Everything abandoned. No sign of life.

Confused, Jed carries on into a neighborhood. He finds a bicycle, decides to use it as quicker transportation. Nearby it was a rotted corpse. The remains of the tailbone and entrails hang near were its legs should have been.

Horrified, Jed picks up the bike, ready to mount it as he hears the corpse take a breath.

The body hisses and rolls over, crawling towards Jed.

"Ah, Oh Christ." Jed, whispers. The body reaches for him, but was too far away to cause harm. Jed, panicked, mounts the bicycle and pedaled away unsteadily.

He arrives at his house after some time. Dismounting and throwing the bike on to the ground, he quickly stumbles up the front steps of his house and through the front door.

"MATTIE! DAD!" He yells. "God dammit. MATTIE!" He rushes through all the rooms and found no one.

With a sob, Jed collapses to the floor. "Mattie... MATTIE!" He couldn't control his tears.

 _Is this real?_ He thought. _Am I real?_

Jed began slapping his face harshly. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT! WAKE UP!" He yells.

He slowly walks out the front door, not bothering to close it and sits on the sidewalk steps.

He looks up and sees a figure of a man walking down the street towards him. Jed's vision was blurry and he didn't quite recognize him.

Then everything went black.

When Jed woke, someone was patting his forehead with a cool, wet cloth.

"Mattie? Mattie, I found you. Mattie…" He mumbled.

"I ain't your Mattie, kid." The man said.

"What…" Jed says, trying to sit up.

"Whoa now, take it easy there, champ. You're in rough shape."

"Who… who are you?" Jed asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Tanner."

"Lieutenant? Colonel?" Jed says, trying to comprehend.

"Was a pilot. Forget the titles, kid. Call me Andy." He says. "What's your injury?"

"Uh… Concussion." Jed answers.

"Concussion? Anything else?"

"Concussion ain't enough?" Jed says.

"Look, kid. I ask and you answer. That's common courtesy, right?" He waits for a response from Jed, who nods. "Now, were you bit?"

Jed stared at him confused for a moment. "Bit?"

"Bit, chewed, scratched…. Anything like that?"

"No, just a concussion as far as I know."

Andy reaches out a hand to feel Jed's forehead. Jed flinches back.

"Just let me." Andy tells him and he feels his forehead. "Feels cool enough… A fever would have killed you by now."

"I don't have a fever." Jed says.

Suddenly, Andy whips a switchblade out. Jed leaned as far away from as he could; he realized that there were bungee cords holding him down to the bed.

"You try anything… I will kill you with this and don't you think I won't, kid." Andy says coldly. Then he cut the bungee cords, freeing him. "Come out when you're able to."

When Jed found the strength to, he came out into the dining room where Andy had a pot of soup on the stove top and two bowls and spoons on the table.

"Sit down, kid. Let's get some food in you. You look like you haven't eaten in weeks." Andy says.

"I don't think I have…" Jed admits. He looks around. "This house… It's Mayor Bates."

"Is it now? It did seem the most luxurious." Andy smirked.

"I've been here before. The Mayor's son is my friend."

"Is he your Mattie?" Andy asked.

"No, Matt is my little brother." Jed says quietly, staring at the table.

Andy watched him a moment. "This place was empty when I got here. Not a soul home."

Jed got up and walked to the window, but Andy stopped him before he moved the curtain to look outside.

"Hey, no don't do that. The freaks will see the light. There are more of them out there tonight than there has been in a while. I should never have fired that gun today…"

"You shot somebody today?" Jed asked, nervous.

"Somebody? It wasn't a person, kid." Andy says. Jed stared at him. "Those freaks are walkers."

"Walkers?" Jed repeated.

"Yep," and he spoons soup into Jed's bowl. Suddenly very hungry, Jed sits down and spoons some into his mouth. "Do you do blessings, kid?"

Jed looks up at Andy and shakes his head.

"Well, you're going to join me in one tonight."

Jed puts down his spoon in disbelief, and joins a hand with Andy.

"Lord, we thank thee for this food, thy blessing. And we ask you to watch over us during these crazy days. Amen."

"Amen." Jed whispers.

"Kid, have you any idea what's going on?" Andy asked him.

"I woke today in an abandoned hospital. I went home to an empty house. My town deserted. That's all I know." Jed says.

"But you know about the dead people, right?"

"Yeah, I saw a lot back outside the hospital on the loading dock."

"No, not the one's they put down. The one's they didn't- the walkers. I shot one of them today. 'Cause it would have ripped into you, ate you up. I know how it must sound, being told this for the first time." Andy tells him, between mouthfuls of soup.

"They're out there right now? On the street?"

"Yeah, and they are more active after dark. The cool air or maybe the gun I fired today. They are attracted to noise, the smell of flesh, light… They will probably wander off by morning, if we stay quiet. Listen, one thing that is for sure, if you get bit or scratched by one of those freaks- it will kill you. The fever it causes will burn you out. But after a while… you will come back."

"Jesus," Jed muttered, taking time to take in what Andy was telling him.

"What about the invasion? You know about that?"

"What?" Jed asked, alarmed.

"Christ, kid! How long were you out?"

"I… I don't know."

"The Russians... Commies! Parachuted down out of nowhere, landed on Calumet Secondary School's sport's field and began firing at the school, they hit a few kids, a teacher, everyone else fled. Many people were captured and taken to prisoner camps. Many thought that these communist bastards brought the curse of the dead here. Makes sense if you ask me. Even the Commie army high-tailed it once the dead began to walk."

Jed felt disoriented and scared. _What if Matt was killed in the attack? Or Matt and dad were captured and never made it to the mountains? No, they are smart. We are more prepared for this than most. They made it._

Later, they got ready to sleep.

"Kid, what's your name?" Andy asks.

"My name's Jed."

"And Jed, your brother Matt, how old is he?"

"He will be nineteen in January."

"Do you think he is with your mom?"

Jed flinched. "I sure as hell hope not." He glances up at Andy. "She died of cancer about a decade ago."

"I'm sorry," Andy says. "Jed, I gotta ask…"

"What?" Jed says.

"I made a few guesses, but I want to know. How did you get your concussion? Baseball bat to the head by your girlfriend's father or a drunken fall down the stairs?" Andy grinned.

Jed chuckled a little. "Sorry to disappoint, but it was just from a rough game of football."

The next morning Andy began to explain his plan to flee the city and search for refuge.

"Calumet is over run and empty. Everyone has fled. Where? I don't know. But there has to be other survivors. Maybe they have gone to a different part of Colorado." Andy says. "But our duty right now, is to stay alive and to wipe out as many of these bastards as we can and as quietly as possible."

"Are you sure they're dead?" Jed asked him.

"They are dead, all except for the brain. That is why you aim for it. These freaks only know two things- how to walk and how to kill."

The two of them went outside and Jed approached a walker. It hisses and growls and attempted to attack Jed, but he bashes its head in with a baseball bat.

Jed turns and falls to the ground, looking like he may hurl.

"Y'all right, kid?" Andy asked.

"I need a moment." Jed sputtered out. He got up and walked back down to his own house and Andy followed.

"They're alive, my dad and brother." Jed told him.

"How can you know, kid? By the looks of this place-"

Jed interrupted him. "There are empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes."

"Jed, anyone could've busted in here and stole the clothes…"

Jed gestured to the walls with the baseball bat. "Do you see photos on the walls? Of my mother? Matt and I as kids? No, neither do I… what would a robber want with our family photos?"

Andy watches him as Jed surveys the house again.

"Jed, I am leaving."

"Where?"

"Wherever the road takes me… Are you coming along?"

Jed sighs. "No. I can't, I am sorry. I have to find my family. I bet you they fled to the mountains. They know them well."

Andy nods. "Well, good luck to you, kid." He turns to leave after patting Jed on the shoulder.

"Wait!" Jed exclaims. "Here," He takes a Remington rifle down from the wall and peers through the scope and handed it to Andy. "Take it. It's not fancy, but the scope is good."

Andy looks through the scope and nods in approval. "May I ask why your family has guns?"

Jed grins, "Our dad use to take us deer hunting up in the woods. We loved it. We were so proud of our rifles." After a moment of silence, Jed grabs a couple of walkie-talkies off the cabinet. "Take this too. It has a new battery in it. I will turn mine on a few minutes every morning at dawn. Update you on my whereabouts."

"You think ahead."

Jed looks up to him. "I can't afford not to, not anymore."

Andy takes the walkie-talkie from Jed, and looks down to the floor. "Listen, one of these freaks may not seem like much, but in a group, they can get real riled up and hungry…"

Jed nodded. "Take care of yourself, Andy. Shall we meet again? "Jed held out a hand to Andy, who shook it confidently.

"We shall, kid. Protect your ass." Andy turned to leave the house, but stopped. "You're a good kid, Jed. I hope you find your dad and your brother."

Jed returns a small smile. "Hope you find whatever it is you're looking for… remember, I will use the walkie every morning at dawn."

Then, Jed and Andy went separate ways. Jed returned to the corner where he found the bicycle. The remaining pieces of corpse were still there, it hissed and gargled, begging for flesh.

Jed bent down next to it. "I'm sorry this happened to you." He says, and he takes out a revolver and shoots it in the head. The corpse stills.

Jed took a moment to breathe, shaken by shooting what was left of a person.

He returned to his house, standing in the doorway. Many memories were flowing through his head. He could clearly hear his father's voice and Matt's laughter.

Tears threatened to escape his eyes, but he blinked them back. He told himself that he had to focus.

He grabbed the keys of his old Chevy truck and climbed into the driver's seat.

As he drove down a paved country road outside the city, past houses and fields, he tapered with the walkie-talkie

The radio crackles and popped.

"Broadcasting on an emergency channel. Will be leaving Calumet on Country Road 87. If anybody reads, please copy," He says into the radio. "Hello? Hello. Can anybody hear my voice? Is anybody out there? Can anybody read me? If you can hear me, please respond!"

 _Small camp near Calumet's mountains_

Arturo, known as "Aardvark" by his friends, drops an arm full of fire wood and sprints to the radio.

"Hey! Hello?" He says into the radio.

"Can you hear my voice?" The radio says.

"Yes, I can hear you. You're coming through. Over." Aardvark says.

Tom Eckert comes over to the radio.

"If anybody can hear me, please respond!"

"We are just outside the city!" Aardvark continues. "Hello? Sir, can you hear me?"

The radio began crackling loudly.

"Damn it! Hello? Hello?" Aardvark says into the radio. He turns to Tom. "He couldn't hear me. I couldn't warn him."

"Here, hang on, Arturo." Tom says, "Maybe Mattie knows how to get this man to hear us."

Matt hears him and comes over to the radio. "Hello? Hello? Is the person who called still on the air? This is Matt Eckert broadcasting to person unknown. Please respond."

The radio crackled.

"I think he is gone, boys." Tom said, solemnly.

"There are others. It's not just us." Arturo stated.

"Of course there would be, son. That is why we kept the C.B. on."

"Yeah, a whole lot of good it's done us." Matt muttered.

"I think we should be putting signs up on 87 to warn people away from the city." Aardvark said. "Folks have no idea what they are getting into."

"We don't have the time." Matt argued.

"Then we make the time."

"That's a luxury we can't afford. We are here, surviving. We are day to day." Matt says.

"Son, who would we send?" Tom asked Arturo.

"Me. Give me a vehicle. I will go." He answers.

"Nobody goes anywhere alone. You know that." Matt told him.

Aardvark nodded and walked away kicking dirt in frustration.

Matt followed him. "What? You pissed at me or something?" Aardvark refused to look at him. "Look, you can be pissed all you want, it doesn't change anything. I am not knowingly putting anyone in danger, okay? Not for anything. Does that make you want to punch me, go ahead if it will make you feel better."

Aardvark faced him. "Shut up, Matt."

"No, don't walk away from me. You're like half-cocked. Look, don't think of it as doing something for me, do it for the group. They have lost enough already, don't you think? They've lost their homes, their family, and their life? Don't make a stupid, reckless, suicidal mission to hang up a damn sign. We've lost enough, we're not losing you."


End file.
